Cleary Gottlieb Opens Office in São Paulo

International law firm Cleary Gottlieb announced today that it has opened an office in São Paulo, Brazil, following the receipt of necessary approvals from Brazilian authorities. Partners Juan Giráldez and Francisco Cestero, who have relocated to São Paulo from New York and Rome, respectively, are heading the office, which is located in São Paulo’s financial district.

“We are excited to open the São Paulo office, our fourteenth office worldwide and our second in Latin America,” said Cleary Gottlieb Managing Partner Mark Leddy. “Brazil is a significant part of our leading Latin America practice, which began over 50 years ago and now includes more than 100 lawyers. Our São Paulo office will enhance our ability to provide the best possible legal services to our clients with interests in Brazil and throughout the region.”

The São Paulo office will offer clients access to the full range of international legal services offered by Cleary Gottlieb, including expertise in international financing (capital markets, project finance, and restructuring), cross-border mergers and acquisitions, regulatory and tax issues, corporate governance, and litigation and arbitration.

The firm has had a leading Brazil practice for decades. With approximately 20 lawyers focusing on transactions involving Brazil and more than 25 Portuguese speakers in the New York office alone, the practice is widely recognized for its depth and breadth of knowledge about local customs and practices and its longstanding relationships with local law firms. Lawyers based in the São Paulo office will, of course, be fully integrated with the firm’s broader Latin America practice.

Actively engaged in Latin America work for more than 50 years, Cleary Gottlieb’s commitment to and knowledge of the region is unparalleled. With more than 30 partners or counsel and approximately 70 associates engaged in the practice, the firm has a broader and deeper talent base in this area than any other international law firm.

About Cleary Gottlieb’s Latin America Practice

The firm’s Latin America practice has been lauded for years as being the most accomplished among international firms. We have continued to receive accolades, including “Latin American Corporate/M&A Firm of the Year” by Chambers Latin America in 2010 and “Latin American Law Firm of the Past 20 Years” by LatinFinance (1988-2008). The firm was also named “Best Law Firm in Latin America” and “Best Law Firm in Mexico” by LatinFinance in 2011, and is the only firm ever ranked in the top tier for Latin America corporate and finance by Chambers. In its 2010 year-end rankings, Thomson Reuters ranked Cleary Gottlieb number one in Latin America M&A.

Other practice highlights include:

• Most extensive sovereign practice in the region.
• Counsel in the restructuring of more public and private sector Latin American debt than any other law firm.
• Counsel in more than $120 billion in closed M&A transactions involving Latin American companies since 2006.
• Counsel in more than $290 billion in capital markets offerings by Latin American issuers since 2002.
• Securities counsel to the five largest Latin American companies by market capitalization.
• Leading role in IPOs for Latin American issuers, including acting as counsel in more than 35 completed IPOs for Latin American companies since 2006.
• Counsel to more than 25 Latin American foreign private issuers in connection with their SEC reporting obligations.

About Cleary Gottlieb

Founded in 1946 by lawyers committed to legal excellence, internationalism, and diversity, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 1,100 lawyers around the world.